1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to surgical instruments; and, more particularly, to diagnostic and surgical instruments for use in abdominal, thoracic or vaginal and anal surgical procedures that may also include endoscopies.
2. Related Art
Certain surgical and diagnostic devices are known for examining vaginal and other cavities. For example, women of a certain age should have a diagnostic pap smear annually. Certain prior art devices, known as speculums, are used which consist of a pair of wide or broad blades, but such are uncomfortable to the patient, causing much discomfort.
Also, when such instruments are used in examining a body cavity, such as the vagina, a second instrument is inserted into the vagina through the speculum. Such an instrument is called a lateral vaginal retractor and is used to retract the vaginal side walls which normally obstruct the doctor""s view into the patient""s cervix. During a surgical procedure, the surgeon needs to insert a clamp, a source of lighting, a suctioning catheter, and irrigation tube through the speculum, thus further obstructing the surgeon""s view of the cervix which might interfere with the surgical procedure being performed.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,668, the teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference, I disclose a surgical and diagnostic instrument which eliminates the need for a lateral vaginal retractor during vaginal surgery. The instrument should be anatomically designed with a narrow oval shape in its closed position to allow it to be inserted comfortably into the patient""s vagina without the discomfort generally associated with a conventional speculum. It allows the introduction of other instruments such as a light, an irrigation tube, etc. without obstruction the surgeon""s view.
I have found that, although this instrument in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,668 works quite well, it is not necessary that the blades 21, 22 disclosed therein are part of the pivoting mechanism. By making these blades integral the upper flange assembly, I reduce the number of parts and need for careful machining of these blades.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved surgical and diagnostic instrument for examining a patient""s body cavity, such as a vagina, eliminating the need for a lateral vagina retractor during surgery.
It is another object of this invention to carry out the foregoing object that is anatomically designed (four quadrant retraction allows the blades to be of less width producing a narrower instrumentation) to cause little if any discomfort to the patient.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a multi-bladed vaginal diagnostic and surgical instrument which is quickly and easily activated to expand the blades with slight rotation movement and little discomfort to the patient.
It is further an object of this invention to carry out the foregoing objects allowing easy insertion into the body cavity being examined without allowing the instrument to slip out of the body cavity during examination.
Such an instrument should allow a tenaculum and other diagnostic tools to be moved out of the area of view of the surgeon while carrying out diagnostic procedures.
These and other objects are preferably accomplished by providing a surgical instrument for spreading apart openings of natural orifices or surgically made openings to perform procedures on internal structures and/or organs of a patient. The instrument includes a plurality of spaced upper and lower blades that open to spread apart the area being examined so that a surgical tool can be inserted therein. A second pair of lateral blades are fixedly mounted between the spaced pair of upper and lower blades. The instrument can be eliminated from the area of view by allowing the surgical tool to pass up into a gate while maintaining the spread-apart condition of the area being examined. The blades can then be restored to their closed position after the tool is withdrawn. The gate may have a plurality of notches for accommodating differing surgical tools.